Short barrelled truck gun cal choice?

[Tikkamike]

Very much like Bruce I live in wyoming 95% of my coyote/varmint kills are from the truck. For several sears I carried a winchester m70 super shodow in 270wsm. they dont have much recoil and with 140 accubonds at 3200 shot super flat. now my truck gun is just a little tikka t3 lite in 25-06. so since you want a detachable mag I vote tikka. if you want a caliber suggestion, I am really partial to the 270wsm

 

[J E Custom]

For what you want to use it for I would recomend a 22 mag or a 17HMR because it would not
require hearing protection and ammo is cheap.

As long as range is no more than 150 yards they will do fine.

If longer distance is required then something a little more powerful should be used.

A great factory rifle for this is the Rem Model 7 (18.5" barrel ) the action is shorter than
the 700 short action and you can get it in lots of good calibers.

I don't think you can get it with a detachable mag though.

J E CUSTOM

 

[Boss Hoss]

I have had just about everything you can think of from the 16 in Knights Armament SR25 to the SR15, various Colts, Remmys and the one I think is best and I have kept is my Ruger Compact 308!! Don't want to beat up one of my customs and the Ruger is the only factory rifle in my safes save for a few collectables...

Stick at Speedy's shop years ago did a trigger job, bedded and crowned it. Shoots cheap factory ammo very well!!!!!!!!

 

[hwy40]

Whatever your choice, one thing that I thought of when I saw this thread is an article I read in the May? 2006 issue of Shooting Times. They did a velocity test using a short action rifle in .308 I think. They shot several rounds over the chrony, recording each, and then cut the barrel down one inch at a time, recording the velcity of several shots, starting at 24 and ending at 16. The conclusion was that the velocity loss in a short action cartridge is roughly 5% between 24 and 16 inches due to the fast powders used in the 308 family.
To put that in perspective, shooting a 308 using Hornady Superformance 165gr SST ammo rated at 2840fps you can cut the barrel down to 16" and still get 2698fps. The difference in drop at 400 yards is approximately 1.5". Go with a light, short barreled rifle and enjoy the hell out of it.

 

[diriel]

A good friend of mine went from 308, to 243, then to 204 as his pickup gun. The reason for the 243 was he found a load that shot flatter than the 125gr Tnt out to around 400ish. Later on, he got a red hot deal as part of a trade, and got his 204 ruger in savage. Being adventurous, he started playing with his new toy, and found the 40gr V-Max was just absolutely deadly out to around 400ish on varments and smallish critters. To top it off, so little recoil that he just retired the other guns from "critter duty".

These days he uses a Ruger #1 in 30-06, and his Savage in 204 pretty much exclusively, unless he is going to Africa. Then he uses his Ruger Safari in 375 Ruger, but still has his Ruger #1 there with him as well.

As for me, I have my 6.5x55 BJAI, and will soon have another 308. Oh, and of course my .22LR which you can pry out of my cold dead fingers Never, ever, leave home without a good .22lr and Winchester 40gr HP Subsonics!

The 6.5 is just about shot out, so here lately i have been pondering what to re-barrel in. I could of course go with the same ... but where's the fun in that? I have been hearing a faint "'280 Ackley'" rumbling around in my brain, but who knows? I can tell you one thing, my 308 will Definitely not be over 20" barrel length, matter of fact I may even cut it back to 16-18". Man I miss my old 308.

Ok enough of a book, and sorry for the OT parts!
Gary

 

[fj40mojo]

Savage Model 10 Precision Carbine seems to fit your criteria. My $.02

Savage Arms Firearms > 10 Precision Carbine

 

[novaman64]

I am looking for the same thing. I was originally planning on going with a 223, but was at Cabellas the other day and looked at a Remington 700 SPS DM, nice, very affordable gun that fits the bill perfect, but doesnt come in 223. They had a 243, which I am thinking about picking up, then jsut have the barrel chopped down to 16"... Comes with a detachable mag and 243 is easy enough to fnd, not to mention you can get bullet weights of all ranges so it will even work better on a little bigger game if the situation arises....

 

[diriel]

CZ-USA -> CZ 527 American

Look at the .221 Fireball. My brain kept on telling me I was missing something, So I had to dig in and get that "itch" scratched. The .221 Fireball is essentially a .223 short. It is an extremely efficient round, that has a large and loyal fan following in both Pistol Comps, and in rifles.

.221 Fireball: Remington's dainty little .22 centerfire offers powder economy, efficiency and accuracy. - Free Online Library

Have a good one,
Gary